Friday, 30 May 2014

Time For Some Blunt Words To Russia

When the 10th century Prince of Rus Sviatoslav
I resolved to crush a neighboring tribe of eastern Slavs, the Vyatichi, he
issued history's most curt, aggressive, direct and unambiguous declaration of
war.

His quite undiplomatic four-word note to
the chiefs of the Vyatichi read "Хощю на вы ити" (Khoshchiu na vy iti)
or "I'm coming to have at you." He was as good as his word, and after
defeating the Vyatichi he forced them to pay tribute to Rus, rather than to a
rival power, the Khazars, as they had before. (Incidentally, according to
contemporary descriptions of the prince, the blue-eyed, blond-haired Sviatoslav
wore a long mustache, a side lock on his shaven head, a single golden earring, and
a white vyshyvanka embroidered shirt. If he could somehow have been
magically resurrected and brought to Kyiv in the early months of 2014, he would
have had no difficulty in recognizing on which side of the barricades were
standing the descendants of his druzhina, or war-band).

Now war has again come to the lands that
Sviatoslav once ruled, although no such clear declaration of it as his has yet
been made. Russia's declaration of war has instead been made in the form of the
actions it has taken since the toppling of the corrupt government of former
President Viktor Yanukovych by the Ukrainian people in late February this year.

First we saw the appearance of the
"little green men" - soldiers in unmarked uniforms carrying Russian
weapons and equipment - surrounding key facilities in Crimea. Despite the
Kremlin's denials, it was obvious to the rest of the world that these soldiers were
Russians. After a hasty, rigged, pseudo referendum, Russia helped itself to a
portion of Ukraine's territory.

Next, similar formations of soldiers began
to turn up in the eastern oblasts of Ukraine, taking over, with military
efficiency, administrative and security facilities over a swathe of the Donbas.
Again there were denials of involvement from Moscow, but through the work of
journalists and the Ukrainian security services we now even learned some of the
names of Ukraine's Russian invaders.

They included former Russian intelligence
officer Igor Girkin, his bearded associate Aleksandr "Babai" Mozhaev,
Cossack Evgenii "Dingo" Ponomarev, and Vladislav "Berkut-Kobr"
Tkachenko (who, by the way, has a distasteful penchant for dressing himself up
in Nazi-era German military uniforms). The Russian presence in the east was now
undeniable.

Then in late May we saw the addition of another
unwelcome ingredient to the cup of war mixed by Moscow in the Donbas – Chechen fighters
from the former Vostok Battalion, a Russian spetsnaz special forces
formation. Dozens of them were killed on May 26, when they tried to seize Donetsk
airport, and their remains were quickly transported back to Russia, but enough of
them remained alive to stage on May 29 what looked very much like a coup
against the leaders of the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic."
Russia now seems to have taken ownership of the mess it has created in eastern
Ukraine.

This all adds up to a wordless yet
unequivocal declaration of war by Russia against Ukraine. By flooding the
Donbas with men and matériel, and retaining significant numbers of troops on the
border, Russia threatens to further annex parts of Ukraine.

The danger now facing Ukraine is stark. But
as per usual, the Western response has been frustratingly flaccid. When are we
going to hear from Western capitals the announcement of a fresh round of
painful sanctions against the Russian regime? So far there has been silence.

What is required is immediate support for
Ukraine, in the form of copious quantities of non-lethal military supplies,
backed up by a sanctions regime that finally bares some teeth. If this is not
forthcoming, then the situation in Ukraine, and perhaps beyond, is only going
to get worse.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is an old
Cold Warrior who fights his battles by means of covert action and subterfuge, with
lies and propaganda, and he will never openly declare his hostile intentions.
But there can be no doubt that if his plans succeed in Ukraine he will be
"having at" another of his perceived foes soon. If the West wants to
prevent another war in Europe, it must, in words as blunt as Sviatoslav's, tell
Putin that Russia's warmongering is to end in eastern Ukraine.